Beware of phishing scams using IRS links
What is PHISHING?
Phishing (fish’ing) is when a con artist sends you an email falsely pretending to be another business in attempt to scam you into giving private information for identity thief. The email gives you a fake link to a website and ask for passwords, social security numbers, date of birth, credit cards, and bank accounts numbers. But legitimate organizations already have that information.
Be aware of the scam emails claiming to be connected with the IRS. The latest scammer has been from Intuit who makes TurboTax. The fake Intuit email is claiming that they were unable to match your name and taxpayer identification number (TIN). It gives you a malware link to review your account and then steal confidential data from your computer.
Make sure you have the latest anti-spam software to help most of the phishing emails and dangerous links. Or if you are worred you won’t be able to spot a fake, just go here and get a free efile directly from TurboTax (The real one!). Example below is a fake:
Also, the IRS does not make contact by emails and never ask for your debit or credit card information. If you are not sure if your email is fake, please do not open the attachment but forward it to [email protected].
This is a fake IRS email sample:
“From: "Internal Revenue Service"
Subject: IRS Notification -Fiscal Activity
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:57:35 +0300
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $268.32.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it. A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To access the form for your tax refund, please click here .
Regards,
Internal Revenue Service
© Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.”
Howard Knight is the principal at Howard Knight CPA. For questions or comment on this article, he can be reached at [email protected].
To learn more about Howard Knight CPA
Howard Knight
12 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1100-105
Houston, TX 77046
713.568.3380 v/vp
http://www.howardknight.com
CIRCULAR 230 DISCLOSURE: Any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and/or links, is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by anyone for the purpose of avoiding federal tax penalties that may be imposed by Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax law provisions or for promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.